On Property Insurance Claim Tips Blog

If your home was destroyed or severely damaged from the Chattanooga area tornadoes to the extent that it is uninhabitable for you or your family to live, your insurance policy may provide a coverage called “Additional Living Expense” or “A.L.E.” But after speaking with some homeowners who have gone without power for weeks it appears, they need to press the issue with their home insurers. Checkout this recent local news story that makes our point: Ooltewah man still without power six and one half weeks after tornadoes

In Nashville, scenes of absolute devastation still remain as if the March 3, 2020 tornadoes sliced through just yesterday. Several tornadoes were reported during the March 3rd storm with three consisting of an EF-2, EF-3, and one large EF-4 wedge tornado that carved the largest swath of destruction throughout the Music City and surrounding areas nearly 3-months ago. Adding to the misery, the Chattanooga - East Brainard area suffered a devastating tornado barrage on Easter Sunday as 7 tornadoes were reported to have touched down in the Tennessee Valley. The fury began around 8:15 pm and then at 11:19 pm, an EF-3 tornado with estimated wind speeds up to 145 mph touched down staying on the ground for 14 minutes.

With the extensive wind and damage caused by the Nashville tornadoes, we are seeing policyholders rushing to get damages assessed. Both insurance company adjusters and many inexperienced contractors are eyeballing roof damage and recommending partial repairs based on simple visual inspection. This is going to cause terrible problems in the future as flying debris can damage the membrane of roofs and set people up for severe water damage in the future. In disaster situations some adjusters simply do not spend enough time assessing policyholder’s damage or taking into effect the increased cost of materials and repairs.

Building codes require structures to be built to certain minimum standards. In areas likely to be hit by tornadoes, for example, buildings must be able to withstand high winds. If your building property was damaged and was not in compliance with current local building codes, you may have to rebuild the damaged sections according to current codes.

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"On Property"Insurance Claim Tips Blog

Tips and advice about how to properly file and protect your property damage insurance claim and get a fair settlement. We invite all readers to ask questions about their claim so our public adjusters can post answers for others to benefit. Insurance claim expert guest bloggers welcome to submit posts via our contact form.

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